A political conspiracy thriller. I felt it suffered a bit because the revelations that William made via the tribunal and internet lacked specifics and it was hard to imagine what could be so earth shattering and so widespread. The ending was a shock.

A group of university students hold a mock trial of the United States government to see if it abides by the constitution. But when real evidence of the government breaking the constitution is presented, the mock trial suddenly becomes very real. It sounds like a powerful and important, disruptive book, especially in a time like this. Unfortunately, it carries almost no punch, but is rather smoke and mirrors. While the characters were certainly interesting, they lacked secondary plots and real motives or backstories. No body acted in a surprising or challenging manner. The actions scenes were boring and confusing. The trial scenes would have been great, but they were too distant from the real world and therefore had no impact. One never stopped to think, "Wait, could this be true?". No similar names to real politicians, no stories that bare resemblance to real events. [I get why that would be difficult, but other political thrillers do it too. And without this connection to the real world, the impact of the novel falls short.] Not many details about the alleged deep collusion, backroom deals and the like were given anyway, which made the premise of the novel (various forces trying to shut the students up, them trying to publish their findings, Washington falling into chaos) seem like an overreaction. All of that - because of ... what exactly? We are never told. In addition to all those plot issues, the novel is confusingly formatted and badly edited, with many many spelling and grammar mistakes that are quite distracting.

The idea is quite interesting: A university professor has his law class organize a tribunal dealing with the constitutional compliance of the US Congress, when a whistle blower interrupts the proceedings and a real scandal evolves. Alas, the reading is cumbersome, since much too many characters act and react, and there are mostly dialogues. It is more a script than a novel, and in spite of the really topical story, I was kind of bored by a lot of meandering, and the lack of dynamics. Sorry to say, but I quit reading halfway through. Net Galley made the book available in exchange for a review. I would have loved to finish the novel, but I was not convinced that it would be worth my time.

I thoroughly enjoyed the fast-paced action and high intensity of this plausible political conspiracy. It is an edge-of-your-seat page turner, with just the right amount of mystery twist I'm always looking for. -

From its first page to its powerful ending, this non-stop political thriller had me gripped. I blew through it whilst on an airplane and completely lost track of time, which is exactly what you want a book to do! It was fast paced, full of intrigue, and was incredibly relevant given today's political and technological climate. I haven't read very many political thrillers but I absolutely enjoyed every heart pounding minute of this one.

There wasn't much set up as you were instantaneously thrown into the Tribunal, becoming a fly on the wall as the events and twists unfolded. Like other readers, I would have liked a little more preamble and maybe more descriptions because at times it felt like I was reading C-SPAN transcripts, but this didn't really make me enjoy the story any less. I was totally enthralled with this one, right up to that shocking ending. There are a lot of recaps on here and the blurb pretty much tells you all you need to know (and I don't want to risk giving away any of its twistiness), so I'll just leave it at: "You should read this book!" I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for any further books in this series.

An interesting plot spoiled by the ponderous dialogue.
Very relevant to the politics of today. A good edit would make this a really exciting book.

Public Tribunal by Cliff Blake is a political thriller. The idea is a brilliant one and very relevant to the state of politics, government control and social media today.

However, there were so many characters that it got a bit confusing – I had to go back a few times to check who was who. The book was twice as long as it needed to be. Many dialogues were unnecessarily repeated and the constant checking back and forth between characters became annoying.

The twist really was unexpected and the ending was a real shocker – the best part of the book.

Thought provoking and fast paced thriller with an astute insight into the current political climate. Gives new meaning to "unexpected twist" with a completely unexpected ending .

Please let there be a sequel.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

Set in an Alternative America, the book follows the story of an aide, Williams Collins, that become whistleblower due to some sort of epiphany after having traffic accident that leave scar on his fiance. Did he go to government agency? Nope, instead he reveal it all in a mock tribunal, organized as a class assignment in his brother's campus.

And then everything escalated quickly. The brothers become most wanted person. Every national agency hunt them down. But, not to worry, our heroes (The Collins brother) has many back up. A long list a friend and a friend of a friend help them to seek impunity.

This book has a face pace flow, has many character that sometimes confusing for reader and...an unexpected plot. The twist is what make the book more enjoyable to read.

Thank you netgalley for providing the arc

The book certainly did not move slow! You start the story already into the Public Tribunal mentioned in the description. But I think that’s where the story suffers a bit. I would have liked to see the buildup to that event, learned about the process, watched the idea build relevance and a fan base. It’s the difference between showing us what happened through words and imagery, and just telling us that something happened.

I thought that throughout this book—that the author told us the story, rather than showing us, and I missed the details that would have made this come alive. This especially suffers in the end, with the “Done” texts, where some skillful foreshadowing throughout the book would have led to a more natural and believable “I didn’t see that coming” moment and would have given us that vague sense of unease about William and his motives that we lacked here.

And the end was unsatisfying, even as a grab for the next book in the series. Throughout the entire book, nothing leads you to believe that this will be part of a larger series, until the last few pages. Then the “revelations” are just thrown in there casually, and the summation you’ve been planning for never really happens.

It’s a great plot, and definitely worth a quick read, but I don’t think I’ll bother with the next book in the series. Not captivating enough for more than one read.

Political thrillers come in many varieties, but the possibilities raised in this new novel do what many others don’t — make the reader think. Starting strong and finishing stronger while mixing the constitution, Congress, the FBI, social media, and academia into an excellent tale.

Wow! It's been a long time since I found a book that gripped me so hard that I could not put it down! From the time I started reading it in the afternoon, all the way until I fell asleep reading it, and then picked it up the next morning to finish it. And then I spent the rest of the day and evening thinking about the possibilities and implications it had, and then the entire night writing the sequel in my head!
This is that book.
Timely, entirely possible, frightening in it's "could it happen", engaging, illuminating.
Imagine what would happen if an Edward Snowden type, but with even more shocking revelations, exposed political corruption in Washington. And a Wikileaks type organization on steroids got involved. What would the government do? Would they try to shut him down? How would the media react? How would the public react?
Fast moving, great characters, super good story line. This would make an excellent movie. I have already decided that Omarosa Manigault should play a particular character.
Sure, this isn't "The Grapes of Wrath", or the "Great Gatsby" type of prose. But it more than does the job.
AND....the ending! Oh my God, talk about blowing me away! Completely unexpected. Although, it does tie up little hints that I found in the book, wondering, at the time, what does this mean. And why is it in here?
No matter where you identify on the political spectrum, you will find yourself enjoying this book. If only the book can get the publicity that it deserves, it could be a best seller.
I read and review over a hundred books a year, and this is one of my favorites in several years. I cannot recommend it highly enough!

This is a heart pounding political thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. This book is a perfect read for any Dan Brown or Brad Meltzer lover!